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During the COVID-19 pandemic, the introduction of mandatory face mask usage triggered a heated debate. A major point of controversy is whether community use of masks creates a false sense of security that would diminish physical distancing, counteracting any potential direct benefit from masking. We conducted a randomized field experiment in Berlin, Germany, to investigate how masks affect distancing and whether the mask effect interacts with the introduction of an indoor mask mandate. Joining waiting lines in front of stores, we measured distances kept from the experimenter in two treatment conditions – the experimenter wore a mask in one and no face covering in the other – in two time spans – before and after mask use becoming mandatory in stores. We find no evidence that mandatory masking has a negative effect on distance kept toward a masked person. To the contrary, masks significantly increase distancing and the effect does not differ between the two periods. However, we show that after the mandate distances are shorter in locations where more non-essential stores, which were closed before the mandate, had reopened. We argue that the relaxations in general restrictions that coincided with the mask mandate led individuals to reduce other precautions, like keeping a safe distance.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the introduction of mandatory face mask usage was accompanied by a heated debate. It was argued that community use of masks creates a false sense of security that could decrease social distancing, thus making matters worse. We conducted a randomized field experiment in Berlin, Germany, to investigate whether masks lead to decreases in distancing and whether this mask effect interacts with the introduction of a mask mandate in Berlin. Joining lines in front of stores, we measured the distance kept from the experimenter in two treatment conditions - the experimenter wore a mask in one and no face covering in the other - both before and after the introduction of mandatory mask use in stores. We find no evidence that mandatory masking has a negative effect on distance keeping. To the contrary, in our study, masks significantly increase distancing and the effect does not differ between the two periods. Further, we find no evidence that the mask mandate affected distancing. However, our results suggest that the relaxation of shop opening restrictions had a negative effect on distancing.

In the experimental field, many facets of the interaction between humans and resources have been studied through relatively simple common-pool resource games. They lack, therefore, some potentially relevant characteristics of the world they aim to represent. Introducing more complex, real-time experiments, including a spatial distribution of the participants and the resources, is a way of bridging this gap. But how far are the results comparable? And in how far is the behavior of the experimental subjects influenced by the mere introduction of a spatial representation of the resource? We revisited the Virtual Commons’ Foraging experiment developed by Janssen (2010), and compared the behavior observed in a spatially distributed resource with the one emerging in absence of a spatial distribution, in order to identify differences caused by the different representation of the resource. Our results show that the introduction of a two-dimensional experimental space lowers cooperation levels.

Resource stock levels in common-pool resources have received little attention by academic research so far, and the results delivered are inconclusive as of yet. Furthermore, the reactions of users to resource changes, and the related variations in the levels of cooperation are still mostly unknown. In this paper we present the result of an experimental study that aims to test the effect of both resource changes and stock levels on harvesting behavior. We conducted common-pool resource laboratory experiments, using a student sample, with different resource stock levels, in order to test for differences in harvesting behavior, and presenting them just a payoff table, to minimize framing effects. We also collected further personal data and we tried to define what goal the students chose for themselves during the game. Our results suggest that, at least without framing the experiment, the resource levels do not induce different behavior, while other-related preferences seem to play a major role.